34 Weeks

I'm officially 34 weeks today! Only two weeks to go until I'm off of my medication and off of bed rest. Now we'll just have to see if this little guy really does want to come early, or if he's just going to torture his mommy longer and wait to come out until my due date, or later like his brother. I'm glad that I've been feeling good for the most part and am excited to be able to get out and do things again! Anyway, here's my picture comparison for this week. I think my belly might be rounder and wider this time compared to last time, I don't know it's hard to tell.

Week 34 with Preston

Week 34 with Carter
Here is a picture of my little bare belly. From this angle I don't think it really looks as big as it actually is, but you can see my flattened belly button. This is probably the only picture you'll be seeing of my bare belly too since I photoshopped out my stretchmarks. :) I didn't get any until I was overdue with Preston and they just keep getting worse this time, but still not bad so I shouldn't complain... oh the joys of motherhood.

The Forbidden Field Trip

A few weeks ago on a VERY nice day, I had a doctor's appt. So my friend Sam came to watch Preston for me while I went. When I got back, she told me that she, Holly, and Sarah were going to go to the tulip fields. I couldn't help myself. I was feeling good, the doctor said I was doing good, Preston was sick of constantly being home, and I hadn't been out in months, so I gave in and went with them and am so glad I did! The weather was beautiful and the tulip fields made a great atmosphere for a relaxing afternoon! We spent a lot of time hanging out talking and looking at the pretty scenery.Here's Sam with Macy her "black doggy." Preston loves both of them, even though Macy isn't too fond of him.

Holly Spent a lot of time taking amazing pictures, you can see more here and here. There are some cute ones of Preston, and you might even find one of me in there too... in my pajamas of course. I was still taking it easy. :)

Preston really enjoyed watching Sarah and "baby E I" as he calls him. His name is really Eli, Preston just can't pronounce his L's. I think Eli is the youngest baby he's been around in a while and he was entranced. He still talks about him constantly too.

When we first got there Preston wasn't really sure what to do...but pretty soon he got the idea,

and as always was not happy that mommy was taking pictures of him.

He still doesn't have much of an attention span though. Soon he had his first experience with a mud puddle. Luckily I tricked him in to thinking they were no fun so he steered clear of them from then on.

But then disappeared down an aisle of tulips despite the fact that the sign said not to go in them, I wasn't going to chase him though. ;)Eventually he stopped and came back, looked at the flowers again,and even stood for a minute or two so I could get a closer picture of him before he sat down and started playing peek a...boo out of nowhere!That only lasted a few minutes. Until he was distracted by the planes and helicopters flying overhead.
Or as he would say "fly, high, sky!" At home he can only hear planes when they fly by, but here he was able to see them
and point them out. Over and over again.
The entire time we were there he was eyeing the school bus on the other side of the field. If you couldn't tell he LOVES all things that move. He kept saying "see school bus now?" So I had to let him eventually.

On the way over as we were dodging mud puddles Preston noticed something, he started yelling "two Prestons! two Prestons!" Then he started panicking a little bit like he didn't know what to do. I finally realized he was talking about his shadow.He tried really hard to get away from it but wasn't able to, like in this picture where he's lifting his foot up in the other direction (he thought). I tried to explain to him what it was and eventually he decided it was okay. I think he was really confused when he watched Peter Pan and saw that his shadow really could get away from him. ;)Finally we made it to the bus. he ran up to it and then slowly checked it outpiece by piece. The funny thing is that he didn't really touch it, he was just content looking at it up close. Now that we had seen the bus our day had come to an end. Preston found some "pretty yellow flowers" so I told him we could pick those ones and give them to the girls. He gave them to each one of them as he said their names. Then he wanted to go pick more once he ran out. Luckily he never tried to pick the tulips!

Now every time we see flowers Preston gets really excited! He can see the dandelions in our yard and talks about them all the time. I'm so glad that Preston had fun, and that I had friends there that were willing to help with him. The other good thing is that Preston has been acting a LOT better since then (less temper tantrums) which is also really nice for me. It's amazing what a little fun in the sun can do. Too bad I got burnt to a crisp though. I guess that's what happens when you don't go outside for over two months. :)

Preston's 2nd Easter

Last year Preston and I were in Utah for Easter, so this was Preston's first Easter at home with Mommy and Daddy.  I've had a hard time doing a lot to celebrate holidays the past few months since I'm not supposed to leave the house, and especially can't walk around the hard floors in stores.  Luckily we had Gabe's little Easter bucket I got a few years ago from the dollar store that we could use as Preston's basket (last year he used one at my parent's house), and we had bought a bag of unopened eggs at a garage sale two summers ago so we were set in that department.  I told Gabe to buy some of my favorite Easter candy, and to pick out some of his favorites while he was out grocery shopping for us.  Luckily it all turned out well, and Preston seemed to have a really good time.  He was VERY excited when we told him to find the eggs that Gabe had done so well hiding.  Can you see it in this picture?

 

Preston found it and promptly yelled out "purple egg!"  I think he'd mid-word here.

He wanted to get them all at once.  He would see one and on his way and get distracted and start going after another yelling out the colors along the way.

He found the one on the chair and was getting very frustrated when he couldn't get it out through the slots.  Eventually he figured it out... Unfortunataly, before I could get a better picture.

He liked putting all the eggs in the bag after he found them.

Bentley was very excited about the whole thing too and tried to go after the eggs.  I think one had just rolled under the couch.

Here Preston's checking out his stash.

Finally he gets to see what's inside.  It's pretty sad that he was that excited about just the eggs even before he knew there was candy in them!

Yum!  Jellybeans, or "canning" as Preston calls it... I don't know where he gets that from.

After a sample, he checked out his Easter basket...

and read the book Grandma sent him in the mail, while his mouth was still full.

After an egg half full of jellybeans Preston asked for another but then announced that he was done after only eating a few.  We tried to give him his marshmallow bunny too but after a nibble he was finished with that.  He really does like sweets, but we made sure he ate a full breakfast before the candy. :)

Here's a picture of Preston and I right before church.  I wanted a picture of us together on Easter, unfortunately I didn't shower and get dressed until right before church and since I only go to Sacrament meeting, I knew by the time Preston and Gabe got home Preston would be asleep, and I would be back in my sweats.  So that is why my hair is wet and I have no makeup on.  I put it on as we were driving to church because we were late as usual.  I blame it on the fact that I can't move very fast. ;)  At least Preston is kind of smiling, right?

Overall, we had a fun Easter, thanks to all of Gabe's help!

Preston's 21 Months Old

It's crazy to think that Preston is so close to turning two!  He's been growing up so fast the past couple of months, he's a regular little boy now.  He loves playing with friends, knows all of their names, and remembers and talks about what the did with them.  He is also constantly asking to go to a friends house.  He's now sleeping in his big boy bed and is talking up a storm.  He repeats and remembers everything we tell him.  He knows his colors and a lot of the shapes.  He loves trains, trucks, tractors, baseball, basketball, football, golf, Nemo, all fish, horses, and about every kind of animal.  He loves singing songs along with us, he recognizes a few letters in the alphabet, and can even count to 21 which is funny because that's how many months old he is.  One day I was counting the snaps as I snapped up his pants and he started counting along, and then ahead of me.  At random times he'll just start counting all the way to 21.  It's just funny because he misses a few numbers every time... at least he has the idea.  I guess that just shows that he's been in timeout a little too much lately, where he sits until I'm done counting to 60.  The terrible two's have started already!

Preston also loves wearing hats and dressing up in anything he can find.  This chinese hat is supposed to be a decoration in our living room.

Here he's wearing his fourth of July hat from last year that's way too small, and Gabe's wonderful bright blue boeing vest that looks more like a dress.  He loves being just like daddy.

He'll do anything for attention.  We were eating chili for dinner and I think someone mentioned the word nose.  Preston put his finger in his nose and I told him not to because it would make his nose spicy.  That started Gabe laughing so Preston put his other finger in his nose.

By this point we were all laughing really hard which probably isn't the best thing to do when you're trying to discourage your child to do something.

The worst part was when he started putting his fingers in his mouth.  he thought he was so funny!

Preston is also really into using his imagination.  He bites off pieces of his food until they look like planes, trains and boats.  This day in particular while I was laying on the couch as usual, Preston started moving around all of the chairs in the kitchen and calling it a choo choo train.  I have no idea where he comes up with this stuff.

Just this week a friend of mine let us borrow Peter Pan (we've been watching a lot of movies lately) and Preston absolutely loved the beginning especially since he recently discovered his shadow (more in a post to come).  When all of the kids started flying with the help of Pixie dust.  He stood up on the couch and kept saying over and over "Preston fly high sky too!"  He was very upset when he wasn't able to.  Luckily Gabe was home at the time, just upstairs.  So he came down and helped Preston fly high in the sky too.

He hasn't stopped talking about it since then.  Or about the fact that he now knows that his daddy "make planes at work."  Unfortunately I think he thinks Gabe makes them out of playdoh.  Maybe someday he'll realize that his daddy makes real planes. :)

I'm so glad to have my happy (most of the time), smart little boy!  I want to be able to remember all of the crazy things he does while he's keeping me entertained every day. :)

Keeping Busy

Not like Gabe needs to try to keep busy.  He has been working lots of over time, doing school, taking care of Preston and I, cooking and cleaning.  But on top of all of that he's been getting a lot done around the house like finishing Preston's room and pulling big heavy stumps out of the backyard.

These bushes have been back there since we moved in and are supposed to stay green year round.  This year the snow was more than they could handle.  We were planning on replacing them eventually but they decided for us that now is the time.  Gabe's been pulling them apart little by little and putting them in our yard waste bin every week.  He got that big stump out with just his shovel.  Pretty impressive huh?

Preston and his crazy bedhead had a good time watching daddy out the window too.

I kept him in his chair and gave him food to keep him occupied.

These pictures were taken before his surgery.  It's weird to see how turned in his eye was getting.  I'll have to take some pictures of how straight it is now, it's kind of weird.